Scores of villagers are _______ a sit-in protest against the construction of a new underpass.
- (a)performing
- (b)sitting
- (c)staging
- (d)standing
Answer
C
Why
Correct — C, staging. 'Stage a protest' is the standard collocation for organising and carrying out a demonstration, so 'staging a sit-in protest' is the natural fit for the blank.
Why the others are wrong
- (a)performing — One performs a play or a task; 'performing a protest' is not the idiom English uses for a demonstration.
- (b)sitting — 'Sitting a sit-in protest' is redundant and ungrammatical — the verb would need to be 'sitting in', not 'sitting a'.
- (d)standing — 'Standing' contradicts a 'sit-in' and is not the collocation for holding a protest.
Concept
A collocation item: 'stage a protest' is the set verb-noun pairing for organising a demonstration.
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.
Practice
- practice — not a real PYQ
Fill in the blank: The workers are ______ a strike to demand higher wages.
- (a)performing
- (b)staging
- (c)standing
- (d)sitting
Answer(b) staging — 'stage a strike' is the standard collocation.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the correct verb: The students ______ a demonstration outside the college gate.
- (a)held
- (b)sat
- (c)performed
- (d)stood
Answer(a) held — 'hold a demonstration' is a correct collocation alongside 'stage'.